Today while returning an overdue book at the hospital library, I stumbled upon this article: "Iron Status in Breast-Fed Infants" by Alfredo Pisacane et al. Journal of Pediatrics Sept 1995 p429-431. Study was done in Naples, Italy. Abstract: Iron status of 30 infants who had been breastfed until their first birthday and who had never received cow milk, medicinal iron or iron-enriched formula and cereals was investigated; 30% were anemic at 12 months of age. The duration of exclusive breast-feeding was significantly longer among NONANEMIC (my emphasis) infants (6.5 vs 5.5 months.) None of the infants who were exclusively breast fed for 7 months or more and 43% of those who were breast fed for a shorter time were anemic. Infants who were exclusively breast fed for a prolonged period had a good iron status at 12 and 24 months. "The high prevalence of iron deficiency anemia among breast-fed infants is the reason for the current policy of giving iron to breast-fed infants after the fourth month of life. When the duration of exclusive breast-feeding was not taken into account, our infants had a high prevalence of iron deficiency and of anemia very similar to that of the infants recently studied in Argentina. However, among those who had been exclusively breastfed for 7 months or longer, anemia was absent, even if iron stores were low in about 20% of cases. THUS, FUTURE STUDIES SHOULD CONSIDER THE DURATION OF EXCLUSIVE BREAST-FEEDING AS AN IMPORTANT VARIABLE. (My emphasis, not shouting) Ta Da!! Seems I remember reading about this on Lactnet recently. Timely study! Martha Brower RD LD IBCLC (queen library snoop)